Posts

Last week’s news of four Christian missionaries in Libya placed under arrest, possibly facing the death penalty for “proselytizing,” is apparently the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday, Arabic media reported that over 100 Christian Copts from Egypt, who appear to have been living and working in Libya, were recently arrested in Ben Ghazi—also on the accusation, or pretext, of being “Christian missionaries.”

One video made by the Libyan militia interrogators—most of whom look like Islamic Salafis, with long beards and clipped mustaches—appeared on the Internet yesterday. It shows a room full of detained Copts. They sit hunched over on the floor—with all their hair shaven off, looking like dejected, or doomed, concentration camp prisoners. According to one source, many of these Copts have been tortured. Some have had the famous Coptic cross often tattooed on the wrists of Copts burned off with acid.

Next, the camera-man zooms in on the material which got them in this predicament: atop a table, several Bibles, prayer books, and pictures of Jesus, Mary and other saints appear spread out. The Libyan interrogators complain about how these Christians could dare bring such material into Libya, and that they, their abductors, are sure that the Copts were going to use such Christian materials to proselytize Libya, to sporadic ejaculations of “Allah Akbar!” from across the room.

What is going on in Libya? Do these reports—first of four foreign Christian missionaries, including one American, now of more than 100 Christians from neighboring Egypt—indicate that Christian missionaries recently decided to flood Libya in droves? Or are these ongoing reports an indication that post-Gaddafi Libya is simply becoming increasingly intolerant of any Christian presence?

Concerning the four foreign missionaries whom the Western media picked up on earlier, it is difficult to say who they are and what they were doing, since they basically have been swallowed up by the Ben Ghazi prisons; their names and identities have not even been revealed. As for the 100 Egyptian Copts, it is hard to believe they were proselytizing. Christians in Egypt dare not proselytize to their fellow Muslim citizens, who speak the same dialect and share the same Egyptian culture. It is a dangerous thing to do. Is it reasonable, then, to believe that some 100 Copts decided to proselytize to Muslims in Libya—where it is common knowledge that the Obama-supported jihadis reign?

Even the Coptic Church in Egypt made statements to this effect. According to Coptic Bishop Pachomios, “This is a very serious incident, in which Egyptian citizens were arrested on the mere suspicion [of proselytizing] and tortured while in detention.” The bishop confirmed that these imprisoned Egyptian Christians were working in Libya, adding that “it doesn’t make sense that as many as 100 Egyptian Copts had decided to engage in proselytizing activities in another country.” After all, they can simply proselytize in their own country. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Cairo-based Egyptian Union for Human Rights, also “expressed his dismay over the reports. He, too, voiced doubt that the Egyptians in question had been proselytizing in Libya,” while correctly pointing out that, “Even if this were proven to be the case, they should not have been detained because of it.”

Moreover, a recent Christian Post article points out the inconsistencies in official statements from Libya, including how the number of Christian material being found on these alleged missionaries keeps inflating. For instance, one Christian arrested under the accusation of having 30,000 Bibles in his possession, was later described by police as having 45,000 Bibles.

It is becoming clear that these arrests are increasingly less about actual Christian evangelism to Muslims, and more about Muslim hostility to Christians. When the Western media reported about the four foreign missionaries, they made it a point to state that the anti-proselytism law comes from the Gaddafi era. Yet, under Gaddafi, one did not hear of such back-to-back arrests of alleged missionaries—just as one did not hear of attacks on Christian churches in Libya, such as the one that took place only two months ago, leaving two Christians dead.

Here, then, is yet another indicator of the true nature of the “Arab Spring” and the Obama administration’s wholesale support of it—hate and hostility for Christians.
(algemeiner)

The reports received indicate that security authorities raided these two Christian converts’ houses simultaneously on January 9, 2013 and arrested them immediately.

Ms. Shahrzad, 25, and Mr. Sam, 27, who reside in western districts of Tehran, were arrested arbitrarily since security authorities refuse to show any legal warrant permitting them to enter their houses. These authorities searched their houses thoroughly and seized some of their belongings including their laptops, Christian books and notes, Christian song CDs, cameras, etc.

It should be mentioned that according to Iranian laws, police officers or any other authorities are not allowed to enter people’s houses without showing an appropriate warrant to the owner of the property. The mere fact that the authorities are wearing uniforms, carrying walkie-talkies and/or guns and are riding in police cars does not authorize them to enter a private home. Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights focusses on the issue of arbitrary arrests. The article states, “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”.

It is reported that the two Christian converts were transferred to the detention center at notorious Evin prison immediately after their arrest. They have not been able to contact their families for a length of time. This lack of contact has caused a wave of anxiety among the families of the detainees.

Persistent inquiries by these two Christian converts’ families about their wellness resulted in threats from authorities that if they publish this news or give an interview with media, the situation of their loved ones will worsen.

Sam and Shahrzad were finally allowed to make a quick call to their families after weeks of uncertainty. They said that they were in good health and would be held in custody for a longer time.

Unfortunately the news of this arrest could not be published earlier due to restrictions, limited access to news resources in Iran as well as threats made by Iranian authorities against the families of these Christian prisoners demanding that they not publicize the news. However, when Iranian authorities failed to keep their promises to the families that their loved ones would be released soon, they decided to publicize the news.

It is now more than 50 days since these Christian converts were arrested. After interrogating them and investigating their case, authorities announced the Christians’ charges as “formation and promotion of house churches and holding gatherings intended for committing crimes”.

Since the arrest took place in early January, 2013, shortly after the arrest of 50 other Christian converts, the arrest of these two Christian converts is also intended to increase pressure on Iranian Christian communities. A knowledgeable source also told Mohabat News that Sam S. is a university student in Electronics and Shahrzad Y. is studying English in university. It is stated that security authorities sent a letter to these Christians’ universities after their arrest, which is expected to cause issues for them going back to their studies.

Prior to this, Ms. Fatemeh Nouri, another Christian convert, and a university student in Art in Tehran, was denied education for a year, after being held for three months in Evin prison.

– Unawareness of Situation of Two Other Christian Converts

In this connection, the knowledgeable source reported to Mohabat News that at the same time as this arrest, in a similar incident, plain-clothes authorities raided a Christian couple’s residence to arrest them. However, they were not present at their home and authorities did not find them.

After finding out the authorities’ intention to arrest them, Mrs. Shirin J. and Ali M. went into hiding and no news is available on their exact location. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the couple may have left the country.

Following an unsuccessful attempt by Iranian authorities to arrest the Christian couple, they summoned their families and requested that they cooperate with Islamic Republic judicial authorities and asked the couple to report to the authorities.

The Islamic Republic’s crackdown and pressure by the intelligence services of the Islamic regime on Iranian Christians has increased dramatically. Many Christian converts in Iran are being held in Islamic Republic prisons and those who are out, are subjected to inhuman pressures and treatments. The pressures have increased especially in the last three years and caused a great wave of arrest and imprisonment of Christians. The result of these pressures was a crackdown on churches, especially Farsi-speaking churches and house churches to stop the growth of Christianity in Iran.
(mohabatnews)

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN has urged the authorities to probe the gruesome killing of 13 factory workers identified as Christians at Sheka, Sharada Phase 111 in Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano, by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members.
Although CAN has started its own probe of the killings, it wants the police to unravel what really happened.
Reports said terrorists stormed the residence of the factory workers at the weekend and killed all the men except, sparing the women and children..
“The occupants of that compound are mostly factory workers, and they are Christians. The gun men who came in taxi asked if they were not observing the evening Muslim prayers; and when they confirmed their victims were Christians, they started killing them sparing only the female and children.
“After the attack, I counted at least, 13 dead bodies murdered in gruesome manner. Security agencies later came and evacuated them, while the very few of them who survived the attack fled the area and vowed never to return,” said a resident of the area.
Bishop Ransom Bello, CAN chairman in Kano has been in a very bad mood, not only because of the killings but what he described as the non-challant attitude of Kano state government over the incident.
Bello who is also the General Overseer of Calvary Life Assembly said he has handed over the matter to CAN’s national leadership, adding that with what is happening, it has become obvious that Christians are no longer safe in Kano.
“Reports of the attack reaching us disclosed that on that fateful Saturday at about 7 p.m, Muslim faithful were conducting their prayer close to the affected compound occupied by Christian families, when two taxi cabs stopped in front of the compound and the occupants, who all concealed their arms dashed into the complex and demanded to know why the residents were not part of the 7 p.m. Muslim prayer.
“They responded by telling the visitors they were Christians and so could not be part of the Muslim gathering. At that point, they separated the men from their wives and children and shot them dead on the spot after ordering the women and children into their homes. The 13th victim, who hid in a dark alley in the compound, surrendered himself, following threats by the gunmen to visit the same fate on the women and children if any man was found shielded,” Bello recounted.
“We are pained over the silence of the relevant authorities in the state, including the government on such a high profile murder. Even though we believe it is the handiwork of extremists, who do not see the reason why the Muslim North should accommodate Christians. We are really worried that nobody from the government has deemed it right to console the family of those that were killed,” Bello lamented.
He added that, “government should show more concern, like it has always done when Muslims are affected; I have not seen that in the case of Christians—that 13 Christians were killed in one straight attack and nothing is heard from the government reflects selective justice because we are aware of compensation paid to Muslim families in situations of this nature.”
Kano state Commissioner of Police, Musa Daura confirmed the incident, saying that a special investigative team has already been dispatched to fish out the killers of the 13 men.
Daura who described the incident as unfortunate, embarrassing and barbaric, urged Kano residents to cooperate with security agencies by giving useful information on crime, terrorist activities and strange movement within their areas.
(PM)

Christians of various house churches in Beijing held a joint seminar on Monday of this week so that they could give their opinions on the Cape Town Commitment achieved at the Third Lausanne Congress. However, the seminar was harassed by the Public Security Bureau when a police officer booked by force the ID information of the attendants. The seminar was forced to stop. Besides this, Pastor Jin Tianming of Shouwang Church has been placed under house arrest for over two years and at this time he still does not have the freedom of movement.

Hu Shigen, another Christian at the scene on that day, described the situation at the scene: “At about 4:30 in the afternoon, our seminar was already half through, a police officer came with his police certificate. He is an officer by the name of Chen from Nanhu Police Station of Chaoyang District of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. He said he wanted to come in to book our information. We didn’t let him enter. Then, he broke through us and entered. He booked the information of all of us and disturbed us continuously. Finally, he booked everybody’s information and the seminar was thus dispersed.

According to the Christians, since 2012 house churches in Beijing have held seminars on Cape Town Commitment achieved at the Third Lausanne Congress. The seminar held on Monday was the 6th seminar. The previous five seminars were held peacefully. People who attended the seminars notified each other on a small scale, so they didn’t catch much attention.

Hu Shigen criticized the Public Security for abusing its power: “When they want to enter a residence to book the information, a police officer’s certificate is not enough. To enter a room, they must have a search warrant or a certificate of detention or an arrest warrant. We think he doesn’t have this power. He violated the safety of a citizen’s residence and his freedom of religion.”

Mr. Chu said that they would continue to have such seminars. After they have discussed all the contents of Cape Town Call to Action, they will hold various type of seminars under the title “Lausanne Movement Forum.”

China Aid Association, a Christian human rights defense organization headquartered in Texas, USA, questions the conduct of Beijing police of harassing house churches. It thinks entering a private residence without legal authorization and forcing citizens to book their personal information won’t help maintaining the stability of the society.

Shouwang Church continues to be under strict surveillance.

After the New Year’s Day of this year, there is a tendency that the Chinese authorities are increasingly interfering with the freedom of religion. Since mid-April of 2011, believers of Shouwang Church of Beijing have been prohibited by the authorities to gather and worship outdoors. Its pastor and other leaders are strictly placed at their homes and their freedom is restricted. This radio station once reported that after Jin Tianming, the pastor of the church, led the believers in holding a prayer meeting a month ago, his right to go downstairs for a work-out has been canceled. Five police officers are deployed at the hallways of his residence and they don’t let him go out of the building.

A Christian man told reporter that at the eve of the Two Conferences (the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference), the situation of Jin Tianming has not improved: “It has always been like this. There are always people guarding at his door and restricting his freedom.”
(Chinaaid)

Libyan Islamists detained 48 Egyptian Christians in Benghazi last week, torturing them and using acid to burn off tattoos of the cross, according to family members.
The Christians, who are peddlers, were arrested by Islamist Salafists in Benghazi, who said they had Christian icons at their marketplace stalls, according to Mideast Christian News. The men were later reportedly freed and await deportation, but their family members back home told the Egyptian press they were abused while held, initially on charges of proselytizing.
“When the residents of the village told me that he was imprisoned, I embraced his sons and told them they would not see their father again,” Fardoos Salib, the mother of Coptic farmer Atif Kamel, told Egyptian newspaper al-Watan.
Activists in Libya last week posted photographs on Facebook showing the Egyptian Copts under detention. A video later seized by police showed the Egyptian Christians locked in a small room and guarded by bearded Salafists. Many appeared to be cut and bruised, and all had had their heads shaved.

The detained Copts had been tortured by their captors, who had also shaved their heads and used acid to burn off the crosses tattooed on their wrists, a source told Ahram Online.

Kamel told family members he was subjected to electric shocks and forced to clean toilets, as his jailers assaulted him and mocked his religion, according to his family. Kamel has a wife and two children in Egypt, but went to work in a Benghazi vegetable market in order to provide for them.

Benghazi residents have expressed outrage at the hardcore Salafists, who are believed to have been behind the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Repression of Christians living in Libya is on the rise, according to human rights watchers. In mid-February four foreigners — an Egyptian, a South African, a South Korean and a Swede with a U.S. passport — were arrested on charges of distributing Bibles and other religious material.
Several Catholic religious orders that have operated within Libya for decades, serving at hospitals and in elder care, have been driven from the country in the wake of its revolution. In January, the Franciscan Sisters of the Infant Jesus left Barce and the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus left Beida, both citing pressure from Islamists. In October, nuns from the Convent of the Holy Family of Spoleto in Derna were forced to leave Libya amid continuous threats from Islamic extremists.
Egyptian Copts living in Libya say diplomats from their homeland do little to help their cause. Kamel said that despite Copts facing persecution from armed authorities, the officials from Egypt’s embassy ignored them.

Kamel’s uncle, Khalaf Naguib Salib, said the Copts detained by Libya are mostly illiterate and don’t know the meaning of proselytizing.

“I say to Egypt’s president, his government and Foreign Ministry, that during Mubarak’s term we felt we were second-class citizens,” Salib said. “This has deteriorated even further under the Muslim Brotherhood. What is the position of Egypt’s president on the violations committed against the expatriate Egyptians? Where is the freedom and justice? Why do we respect foreigners in our country when they violate our dignity in their countries?”

Four Islamic extremists admitted plotting a terrorist attack on British soil armed with guns and home-made bombs.

The men were caught after in a massive multi-million pound surveillance operation by police and the security services.

Hidden bugs recorded them discussing methods, materials and targets for a terrorist attack, including using improvised explosive devices.

They downloaded illicit online terrorist instructions, purchased survival equipment and collected thousands of pounds to fund the plot.
Investigators looked on as they organised and undertook physical training and prepared to send others to Al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan.

But they were arrested at their homes in Luton, Bedfordshire, following a huge operation by the police and the security services.
The men involved were Zahid Iqbal, 31, Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, 25, Umar Arshad, 24, and Syed Farhan Hussain, 21.
They admitted a single terrorism charge at high-security Woolwich Crown Court just weeks before they were due to face trial.
The court was told the offences took place between January 2011 and April last year. All four men are of Pakistani origin.
Their plea came a week after three Birmingham men were convicted of the biggest British terrorist plot for six years.
The home-grown terrorists boasted they would kill more people than the July 7 bombers and wanted to create another landmark date alongside 9/11.
Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali masterminded a conspiracy to attack unknown targets in their home town.
They too were caught after a huge surveillance operation when two of them returned from a terrorist training camp on the lawless Afghan border.
Naseer, a pharmacy graduate, was trained in making improvised bombs from chemical sports injury cold packs but their plans were smashed by police.
The trio were also caught with material by Anwar Al Awlaki and worshipped Mohammed Sidique Khan, who led the July 2005 atrocities.
The four Luton men face substantial prison sentences when they return to be sentenced by Mr Justice Wilkie on April 15.

A senior security official says a missing Muslim woman suspected of conversion to Christianity has been found. Her disappearance set off rioting in southern Egypt.

Muslims stormed a church in Kom Ombo, charging that the woman was being held there.

Major General Hassan Abdul-Hay, security chief of Aswan, told reporters late Saturday that “family and social reasons,” not religion, were behind her disappearance, and she had not converted. He gave no other details.

Suspected Islamic extremists in Somalia shot a Christian to death this month on the outskirts of the coastal city of Kismayo, sources said.

Two masked men killed Ahmed Ali Jimale, a 42-year-old father of four, on Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. as he stood outside his house in Alanley village, near a police station, they said. The killers were suspected to be members of the Islamic extremist Al Shabaab, a rebel militia ousted from the area four months ago but still engaging in hit-and-run tactics. A few of the four rival clans in Kismayo, 328 miles southwest of Mogadishu, are said to be housing members of Al Shabaab.

A businessman, teacher and medical consultant well-known in the area, Jimale ran a pharmacy in Kismayo. He would give private lessons on medicine and first aid, and as an underground Christian – as are all Christians in Somalia – he highlighted the teaching with discussions comparing the Bible and the Koran, sources said.

The students would share these lessons with other children, and this teaching, along with his close work with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that provides aid, appeared to have caught the attention of the Al Shabaab extremists, said a source who worked with Jimale but is no longer in the area.

When the Somali National Army and the Kenya Defense Forces wrested control of Kismayo from Al Shabaab, Jimale became increasingly open in presenting the religious content of his teaching, and the Islamic extremists suspected he was a Christian – and guilty of “apostasy” or leaving Islam, on the common assumption that all Somalis are born Muslim, the source said.

Toward the end of 2012, Jimale began receiving threatening messages in his phone, sources said.

“We have been monitoring your activities,” read one. “You have to stop introducing the children to foreign Christian religion as well as your close working relation with a foreign organization, otherwise we shall come for your head.”

Jimale had been an employee of the NGO, and occasionally he continued receiving contracts from the aid organization. Such organizations are often associated with Westerners and Christianity, both anathema to Al Shabaab.

“Jimale was a good man who helped our community,” a friend of the slain Christian told Morning Star News. “His widow is very scared and afraid, not knowing what will happen.”

Jimale’s children, two daughters and two sons, are ages 10, 8, 6 and 4.

The incident was the latest in a series of murders of Christians in Somalia over the past several years. On Dec. 8, 2012 in Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, gunmen killed a Christian who had been receiving death threats for leaving Islam (See “Christian Shot to Death in Somalia,” Dec. 14, 2012). Two unidentified, masked men shot Mursal Isse Siad, 55, outside his home for leaving Islam, Muslim and Christian sources told Morning Star News.

Siad and his wife, who converted to Christianity in 2000 according to a source who used to worship with them, had moved to Beledweyne from Doolow eight months before, after Somalia’s transitional federal government and African Union Mission in Somalia troops captured Beledweyne from Al Shabaab rebels. Siad had taken a job with a local NGO.

The area was under government control and there was no indication that the killers belonged to the Al Shabaab rebels who have vowed to rid the country of Christianity, but the Islamic extremist insurgents were present in Buulodbarde, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, and Christians believed a few Al Shabaab rebels could have been hiding in Beledweyne.

In the coastal city of Barawa on Nov. 16, Al-Shabaab militants killed a Christian after accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said. The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose after monitoring his movements for six months, Christian sources said (see “Christian Convert from Islam Beheaded in Somalia,” Nov. 17, 2012).

Mose drew suspicion when he returned to Barawa, in Somalia’s Lower Shebelle Region, in December 2011 after spending time in Kenya, according to underground Christians in Somalia. Kenya’s population is nearly 83 percent Christian, according to Operation World, while Somalia’s is close to 100 percent Muslim.
(Morning Star News)